The Fred Kersley trained Operational rose to new heights today at Belmont, with a clinical victory in the open class Reed Resources HCP 2100m.
Backing up from a dominant victory over benchmark 66+ company earlier in the month, the 6yo Tiger Hill gelding was brilliantly ridden by star silk Daniel Staeck over the concluding stages, pushing through a needle eye opening to secure a nail biting short head winning margin. In doing so, Operational ($4.20) returned notorious place getter Cyber Crime ($7.00) to the minors list – the Success Express gelding again doing everything but win today’s event after notching up a rare victory last weekend.
Race favourite Daneclicked ($4.00 fav) also featured in the finish, changing home late to claim a long head third, while The Underworld ($6.00) put in the run of the race, coming from last on the turn to capture fourth a further long neck adrift.
The heart stopping conclusion ironically featured the only four horses in the race who had won their last start – the first four paying a whopping $526.
Chris Blackwell